Recap: Spurs 111, Raptors 106 (2OT)

Summing it up: Suffice to say for a game that went to double overtime, there were too many key plays and important moments to adequately review in the span of a couple of sentences. Gregg Popovich was undoubtedly less than thrilled about having to deploy Tony Parker and Tim Duncan for more than 40 minutes. But the Spurs (11-3) at least earned a victory for their trouble, improving to 3-0 on this six-game trip and 7-1 on the road entering tomorrow’s visit to winless Washington.

Player of the game: While his shooting numbers weren’t quite as scorching as the last two outings, Parker was still San Antonio’s go-to player, scoring 15 of his game-high 32 points after the third quarter. Eleven came in overtime, including seven in the final three minutes of the second period. Parker hit three straight pull-up jumpers in that span, maintaining a four-point lead with each one before the Raptors finally faltered. He’s averaging 30.3 on 61.2-percent shooting during the current trip.

Play of the game: It feels sort of shoddy to pick just one, especially when it came in the third quarter, with so many huge plays still to come. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t single out the most Manuesque play of the young season, a steal/full-court slalom combo that began when Ginobili dribbled through the legs of a Raptors defender while tip-toeing along the sideline and ended as he threw in a wild layup while being fouled. We’ve only been watching this stuff for the past decade, but Ginobili’s creativity never ceases to amaze.

Continuation

* If Popovich was forced to overwork his veteran mainstays, he at least got his money’s worth. Parker (46 minutes), Duncan (41 minutes) and Ginobili (36 minutes) scored 32 of San Antonio’s last 36 points, including 13 straight to finish regulation, eight of nine in OT No. 1 and 11 of 14 in OT No. 2.

* In what is becoming a nightly — or in the case of this afternoon matinee, daily — occurrence, the Spurs were hammered on the boards once more, giving up 17 offensive rebounds and 27 second-chance points to a team that ranked among the league’s worst in those categories. Toronto’s Ed Davis set a career-high with eight offensive boards.

* Anti-Player of the Game “honors” go to Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani. It’s always dangerous to pin an entire loss on the shoulders of one player. But in a game this close it’s pretty difficult to ignore Bargnani’s 2-for-19 horror show. His brick on a wide-open 3 could have put the Raptors up late in OT No. 2, after which the Spurs pulled away.

* The hard-luck Raptors, who led by nine early in the third quarter and three with possession in the last three minutes of regulation, have now lost games by 2, 5, 1 and 1 points, with additional losses in double- and triple-overtime.

* The Spurs have cooled off considerably since their 3-point barrage against Denver, making just 30 percent of their long-range attempts in the four games since then. They were 8 for 27 against the Raptors after going 2 for 17 against Indiana.

* It was the Spurs’ first double-overtime game since a 106-103 victory over Memphis on Dec. 27, 2008.